APEC Vietnam 2006 to take place in Vietnam will be an important event for the Vietnamese people, each of whom has his or her own welcome. Artist Dao Trong Cuong, who was granted the ‘Golden Hand Artist’ title by the Vietnamese Government and discovered gemstone encrusting, has been preparing for the event for six months. He encrusted gemstones on portraits of 21 members from APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, who will attend the APEC 2006 with a hope of leaving a good impression of APEC Vietnam 2006 on foreign leaders.
Precious portraitsThis is not the first time, Cuong has done the job. He had created gemstone portraits of Vietnamese leaders, including President Ho Chi Minh, President Ton Duc Thang, General Vo Nguyen Giap. He is also the author of the gemstone portrait of Cuban President Fidel Castro and American billionaire Bill Gates.
“When I gifted the gemstone portraits to President Fidel Castro and billionaire Bill Gates, they were very happy and embraced me as close friends, as they were presented for the first time their portraits created with thousands of natural gemstones of Vietnam,” Cuong said in an emotional voice.
Gemstones were crystallised underground thousands of years ago. However, they would become more precious when they depicted the warmth and soul of the Vietnamese people, who wish to have a happy life and peace, solid as gemstones in portraits, said Cuong. That is why he made great efforts, working day and night, to create these meaningful portraits for the outstanding leaders of economies on two different sides of the Pacific Ocean, who will convene for the 14th APEC in Vietnam.
“As an entrepreneur and a Vietnamese citizen, I would like to convey my emotion and feeling towards foreign friends with great respect of Vietnam for them when our country opens the economy to the world,” Cuong said.
Labour and pride
To create the portraits, Cuong’s company made great preprations. Cuong and his workers had to choose among between 30 and 50 portrait photographs of each APEC leader to select the best one. These photographs were selected from various sources, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vietnam News Agency, and the local media. Cuong, in turn, can be proud to have thousands of photographs of different poses of Leaders of APEC Economies who will arrive in Vietnam.
To have the best photograph of each leader, the company had to invite experienced photographers to select photographs which depict the best portraits of Leaders of APEC Economies. Cuong then repainted and selected gemstones with suitable colours to create lively gemstone portraits.
It is difficult for artists to mix colours suitable for paintings. It would be more difficult for 30 artists and artisans of the Than Chau Ngoc Viet Company to select thousands of natural gemstones, such as rubies, sapphire and spinel, with suitable colours for the portraits. Therefore, some portraits Cuong had to create three or four times.
As owner of a private enterprise, who spent his own money to create the gemstone portraits as gifts for Leaders of APEC Economies, Cuong said he simply wanted to depict his warm and open emotion, and dynamism. “I wish the Vietnamese Government will present the portraits with respect to each Leader from APEC Economies for people in the world to understand the friendliness of Vietnam and me in particular as a Vietnamese artist,” Cuong said.
Kim Phuong
Vietnamese
